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The First Fox Spirit

Many thousands of years ago when the land was still uncultivated and humans had only just begun living together in small villages, the gods began preparations for a banquet in which they would consume the Peaches of Immortality to extend their longevity even further.

Celestial maids were tasked with picking the heavenly fruit, and although it wasn't uncommon for them to give into temptation, one such instance would lead to unprecedented results.

A maid had taken a bite out of a particularly round peach when the sound of hurried footsteps caused her to panic and throw the fruit away in haste. It bounced off a nearby tree trunk before rolling towards the edge of the garden, where it fell all the way down to Earth.

A lone fox came upon the mysterious glowing fruit and nudged it in curiosity. Moments later, the fox determined whether the peach was safe to eat the only way it knew how. By taking a bite, then another, and another, until little remained but the seed.

Afterwards, the fox scurried away in search of more food, unaware of the change that had begun within its body. Seasons went by as the fox fulfilled its natural urges by mating and giving birth to cubs, then rearing them to adulthood.

The grown cubs sensed something unusual about their mother but could not comprehend what it was even as they left her side to find territory of their own. The sorrowful whimper that she let out was unlike anything they had heard before, so they only hastened their departure out of a desire for self-preservation.

Over the following year, the fox eased its loneliness by mating and birthing a second brood, all of whom soon grew up and left as well. The cycle repeated several more times before the fox finally realized there was no need for her to continue procreating. She had been around for a long time, and her offspring were surely numerous enough that they would carry on her line without fail.

From that on, she spent what seemed like an eternity traversing all manner of landscapes and seeing the creatures known as humans become steadily more sophisticated in their behavior and dwellings. Their villages expanded while fields of uniform crops sprung up all around.

The fox became aware of a second appendage growing beside her majestic and bushy tail but willed herself to disregard it until a fateful spring day when the blooming flowers caused her nose to itch for reasons unknown. She raised a paw to scratch at her muzzle, then let out a sneeze that produced a small puff of fire and smoke.

She yipped in surprise before her stomach growled in hunger. She raised her head to the sky as the thought of human food became tempting enough for her to rush towards the nearest settlement. There, she put her cunning to full use by foraging and stealing whatever caught her eye while always managing to stay one step ahead of the people who pursued her.

The power of invisibility was discovered through such escapades, and the ability to shapeshift when she came face to face with a cat in an alleyway one evening. Her attempt to mirror its stance and expression had led to it retreating in fright, and a glimpse of her reflection in a puddle soon made it clear why.

She worked hard at honing her newfound skill and was eventually able to turn into oxen, horses, pigs, sheep, and more. Growing restless, she then sought to reach even higher by impersonating a human.

An opportunity came when she perched on a hill and watched a procession of people following a cart across the grassy land surrounding their town. All of them wore white, and while the two men pushing the cart had hardened expressions, the ones behind them cried and wailed as if in tremendous pain.

After some time, the two men brought the cart to a stop and carefully lifted its contents onto their shoulders. From her vantage point, she was able to recognize that they were carrying a coffin. She wondered about the identity of the person inside and the sort of life they had led.

The funeral lasted until dusk, at which point the deceased was buried beneath a small mound and a tombstone bearing two inscriptions was planted on top. The mourners and gravediggers slowly filed away, signaling to the fox that it was time to act.

She dug at the loose soil near the mound and kept going until she was able to scratch the side of the coffin. With a thrust of her front paws, she forced the lid open and peered inside.

The deceased was a young woman with pallid skin and gray lips that contrasted sharply against her shining black hair. A jade pendant adorned her neck, and a silk robe clothed her body, marking her as someone of high status.

She was a worthy first human to use as practice, so the fox went to work replicating her striking appearance until morning arrived and she was sure that she had become a thing of great beauty.

Feeling proud of herself, she staggered into town and wandered the streets, attracting stares of horror from people who had known the deceased and believed that she had come back as a ghost to torment her unfortunate family.

She arrived outside a house bigger than all of the others surrounding it. The woman washing clothes outside immediately stopped and fled, prompting her to wonder what was wrong. Moments later, a young man with unkempt long hair ran out of the gates towards her, his voice fraught with emotion.

"Tsen! Tsen, my love! You've come back!" He pulled her into an embrace and rested his head upon her shoulder whilst beginning to cry. "Don't leave me again. I'll die..."

Tsen? That must be the woman's name.

The man let go and pulled her forward by the arm. "Come. I have to show father and mother that you're still alive. They'll be-" His words were cut short as an old man and woman came running out of the house towards them. The new Tsen recognized them as attendees of the funeral she had observed yesterday and offered her greetings.

"Pleased to meet you. I am-"

"Son!" the old woman cried out while waving her arms. "Stop this madness at once! Your wife is dead! The doctor said so!"

To Tsen's surprise, the young man gripped her arm tighter and spread himself out in front of her. "No, mother! You and father are the mad ones for burying her alive! I told you she would wake up soon!"

The old woman froze at those words, but the old man fumed and struck his son across the face. "Fool, look at her complexion! Pale as a bone!"

Tsen raised a hand to her face and realized her mistake. She had chosen to impersonate a dead human but had failed to consider the features that distinguished them from the living. As a result, she observed the three people in front of her and flushed some color into her skin to make herself look lifelike.

At that, the old man's mouth dropped open and so did that of the old woman. The young man saw his parents' stunned expressions and turned to face Tsen before jumping in surprise. "Amazing! You look even more beautiful than on our wedding night!"

Tsen smiled in delight at her success. She hoped that the old couple would welcome her with open arms, but they still weren't deceived by her disguise.

"Look!" The old man pointed his wrinkled finger. "That is sorcery!"

The son continued to argue with his parents until they reached a consensus to let her stay in a separate room while an investigation was conducted. A servant returned in the afternoon to report to the father that a burrow had been dug beside Tsen's grave, which fueled the old man's suspicions further. He had the servant show him to the site and, sure enough, found that the burrow was too narrow for a human to fit through.

"I shall go forth to the palace and let the king know about this. Make sure my son doesn't get too close to that woman."

"Yes, master," the servant said before running home and leaving him alone to plan his message.

******

It was nighttime when a company of soldiers knocked on the door of the room where Tsen stayed. She did not know whether to answer, and fear overcame her when they resorted to breaking through and gathering around her.

"The king demands that you come with us. Do not resist if you value your life."

The glint of their spears in the moonlight distracted Tsen long enough for one of the soldiers to yank her up by the arm. His rough gesture made her panic, and she released a puff of fire from her lips that prompted the other soldiers to attack without hesitation. The tip of one spear stabbed into her side, causing her to gasp in pain before three more blades pierced her flesh.

Blood dripped from her abdomen and splattered around her feet as the soldiers withdrew their weapons. Tsen coughed whilst an intense heat flooded her body and she tried to stay upright despite her clouding vision.

With a puff of her chest, she attempted to blow more fire, but all that came out was a pitiful wisp of smoke. Her knees trembled and she fell to the floor, realizing that her life was about to end after everything she had been through.

A single spear plunged through her heart. She gurgled and stared out the window with her departing strength. The stars shone like a dozen bright white flames, seemingly beckoning her to join them and leave the troubles of earth far behind.

She closed her eyes and thought of the various offspring she had raised over the years. Surely, they had all thrived without her and managed to have cubs of their own, thus making her descendants more numerous than that of any other fox.

Her clenched fists unfolded as she breathed her last. The human form that she had taken dissipated, revealing to the soldiers a large fox whose fur was matted with blood and tails lay splayed on the floor beside it.

"What on earth," one of the soldiers uttered, echoing the confusion of his companions. "It has two of them..."

"Indeed," said another. "We should spread the word. There could be many more of these creatures out there."

The remaining two soldiers nodded in agreement before they departed the room and took the slain fox as evidence of their discovery, unaware of just how much of a stir it would cause in the king's court.

******

Author Notes:

- I don't have a precise setting for this story, but I would place it during the midst of China's Bronze Age, or towards the beginning of the fabled Xia Dynasty (circa 2070 BCE to 1600 BCE). Little is known for certain about this time period, so I took some artistic liberties here and there.

- The Peaches of Immortality feature in a lot of Chinese art and stories, with the most famous example being Journey to the West, in which the Monkey King is tasked with protecting them and eats a few while he is on the job.

- Before there were emperors, China consisted of many different kingdoms scattered all over the place, each of them likely having their own culture and language.

- Jade and silk were used in China from as early as the Neolithic period. Spears are also quite old, since they were first used for hunting animals.

- 'Tsen' is the reconstructed old Chinese version of the modern word 'Jing' (精), which has many meanings, such as 'polished rice,' 'essence,' 'spirit,' 'demon,' and 'refined.'

- I thought it would be poetic to have this story end with Tsen's death and her children being left to continue her legacy. In other words, she walked so that they could run. 

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